Baked Cheesy Eggs in Avocados, Say What?!

Hey Blogosphere,

So how about being totally badass and baking an egg, in an avocado, topping it with cheese, and serving it with breakfast potatoes? Let’s do this!

Ingredients:

• 1 medium or large avocado
• 2 small eggs
• shredded sharp cheddar cheese
• sea salt, to taste
• fresh cracked black pepper, to taste

Directions:

1. Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Crack the eggs in a medium bowl, careful to not puncture the yolks. Set aside.
3. Cut avocado in half and carefully remove seed. Depending on how big the seed is, the hole in the avocado should be big enough for one small egg. But if the hole looks too small, scoop out a little at a time till it matches the amount of egg.
4. In a medium baking dish, try to rest the avocado half inside the edge of the dish so that the avocado doesn’t tilt over. You need to keep the avocado from tilting so that the raw egg does not spill out. NOTE: I ended up using my egg poaching tray and then putting that inside a pie tin. See photo: 
5. You can crack the egg directly in the avocado, but it might overflow and make a mess. So this technique will be useful: With a medium spoon, gently scoop out one of the yolks and place it into the hole of the avocado. Then continue spooning the egg whites into the avocado hole till it’s full. Repeat for both avocado halves.
6. Add salt and fresh cracked black pepper on top of the eggs, to taste. Sprinkle the shredded cheese atop the eggs.
7. Gently place the baking dish in oven and bake for about 15 minutes. Baking time will vary depending on how much egg you have and how big your avocado is. So keep checking the egg to see if it’s cooked to your desired consistency.
8. Serve up with your favorite breakfast potato medley!

ENJOY!

A Pasta Salad Actually Worth Making- Orzo, Arugula, Tomato and Feta.

Hey Blogosphere,

If you’re like me, you’re tired of the same old pasta salads. It seems every BBQ, party and potluck this time of year is full of the standard elbow macaroni + carrots + celery + enormous amounts of mayo salad. Not that I don’t love a nice cup of mac salad, but let’s be honest, it gets a little old. So I was excited to try this recipe!

Total Time : 30 Minutes

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Prep Time : 10 Minutes

Cook Time: 20 Minutes

INGREDIENTS

• 1 1/2 cups orzo
• 1 1/2 cups red and yellow teardrop tomatoes or grape tomatoes, halved
• 3/4 cup finely chopped green or red onion
• 1/2 tablespoon of crushed (or jarred) garlic
• 1 cup chopped arugula
• 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 cup feta cheese
• 3 pinches of shredded parmesan cheese
• salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS

In a medium sized pot, place water on stove to boil. Once boiling add the orzo and reduce heat to medium to allow the orzo to cook, but to prevent the pot from boiling over. Stir occasionally to prevent the orzo from sticking to the bottom of the pot. Drain when cooked to desired tenderness.

At the same time you pour the orzo into the pot, in a medium sized saucepan add the sliced tomatoes, garlic, and onions, with a little bit of olive oil and heat over medium heat. Stir occasionally to avoid burning the onions. Cook for about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.

In a large bowl add the orzo and the tomato/onion/garlic mixture. Do not drain the juices from the tomatoes, these should go into the bowl as well. Add the chopped arugula, salt, pepper, white wine vinegar and toss well.

Add the crumbled feta cheese and the olive oil to the bowl and mix well.

(Note: my boyfriend is not a huge fan of feta so I made this dish with cotija cheese instead. It was just as lovely! If you’ve got a picky cheese eater like me, try branching out with different less taste full cheeses.)

Serve warm with shredded parmesan cheese and a piece of arugula to garnish.

ENJOY!

Beautiful Spring Salads!

Hello Blogosphere,

Things are blooming here in Sunny San Diego. I was so excited to make my first truly beautiful spring salad this weekend. Sometimes the simplest of foods can be a work of art!

This bad boy had: kale, arugula, chard, cabbage, tomatoes, carrots, cucumber, red onion, green onion, blueberries, watermelon radishes, and chioggia beets.

DUDE chioggia beets are the coolest! Check them out:

http://www.sunset.com/food-wine/healthy/healthy-energy-foods/chioggia-beets

I dressed this with a delightful peach and sesame seed salad dressing. Perfect for a warm spring evening. Best part of this salad? 100% organic. The tomatoes and onions were grown in our backyard and the rest is from our local CSA. Such a great feeling to eat well, eat healthy, and give back to our local community.

What do you put in your salads??